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British vehicles are engineered to meet overseas conditions
Page 88
Page 89
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by Gibb Grace, DAuE.CEng, MIMechE
BRITISH truck manufacturers do not tel solely on selling trucks only in this countr to make a living. All of them hay established export markets and spen considerable sums of money making sur that their products are up to the condition of the markets concerned.
Bedford, for example, exported 59,66 trucks and vans last year which i equivalent to 43 per cent of all Britis truck exports and makes the compan Britain's leading commercial vehicl exporter.
With up to 70 per cent of all Bedfor trucks sold going to export markets an with Bedford vehicles currently operating i some 170 countries, it is clear that Bedford have to be designed with world markets i mind. The very earliest design schemes tak account of world market trends, and by th time a new Bedford reaches th drawing-board all the factors appropriat to the operating conditions in countrie from Austria to Australia are taken int account. The maze of vehicle regulation which is constantly growing in complexit and scope requires constant checks to 11 made. A division within Vauxhall' engineering department has the full-time jo of keeping track of information coverin world vehicle regulations and to do thi most effectively works in co-operation wit General Motors plants and distributor around the world.
New Bedfords are thoroughly teste before going into service in oversee markets at Vauxhall's new 700-acre provin ground at Mil'brook in Bedfordshire. Hen vehicles go through an arduous 40,000 mile proving test which is designed to simulat normal life wear and tear in the hands c operators. The 25-mile test rout incorporates a high-speed track, Belgia pave and a gruelling hill route. Special] built slopes and roads test gradientabilit and hill starts, ride and handling, and ther is a separate cross-country section fc off-the-road vehicles. To supplement Millbrook testing and to obtain experience of the ambient and terrain conditions in climatic extremes, Bedfords are tested in mid-winter conditions such as are found in Canada and Sweden, and in the Arizona Desert where temperatures go up to 130deg F. Altitude tests take engineers and vehicles to the Alps in Switzerland.
Parts, though unglamorous, are a very important tactor in overseas selling and Bedfords are backed by a service organization unrivalled in spread. Parts supplied from Vauxhall's parts centre at Dunstable provide round-the-clock links with Bedford dealers via 110 General Motors plants and distributors around the world.
While the big producers can rely on huge test facilities to prove their products, smaller companies such as Atkinson use local knowledge and expertise to help them establish a market. Atkinson's wholly owned subsidiary, Atkinson Vehicles (Australasia) Pty Ltd, based in Melbourne, builds vehicles complete in Australia and thus is in the best location to build the right vehicle for the job. All the labour is local, but the managing director, Jeff Greenhalgh, is British; he went out to Australia in 1967 after serving an apprenticeship at Walton-le-Dale. The vehilces built in Australia tend to be larger than those in the UK and so design information often comes back to the UK as well as going out.
British Leyland has many long-standing export markets each with its own peculiar operating conditions.
Models such as the bonneted Super Hippo and the Super Beaver have been designed and developed for arduous overseas conditions and are sold almost exclusively abroad. The Super Hippo three-axle machine operates at up to 48 tons gew and is available with a naturally aspirated Leyland 680 engine or a turbocharged Leyland 690 engine. Not only big vehicles are exported, the Scottish-built Terrier, for example, has recently become available on the export market where it complements the older FG chassis. One of the first countries to begin assembly of the Terrier is Uruguay. Firm orders for 224 Terrier TR650s have been placed by British Leyland's agent Corausa who will assemble the vehicles in Montevideo.
British Leyland continues to sell buses world wide too. The company has just received an order for 150 Albion chassis from Thailand's largest bus concern — the White Bus Company. The woman managing director of White Bus said that she chose Leyland products in the face of strong Japanese competition because of the proven reliability of the present Leyland vehicles in the fleet.
Success such as this does not come easily and is a good example of the rewards gained by studying the market and products needed there.
Long hauls Operators in Britain who are involved in TIR work also want vehicles which will cope with long Continental hauls and offer the utmost reliability. One such operator is R. K. Crisp of Birmingham who is currently using specially ordered Big J4T tractors on Continental haulage. At the moment the company have six units running but seven more are ordered.
The vehicles have 230 bhp Cummins engines, Fuller RT 909A gearboxes and Guy hub reduction axles and are fitted with a sleeper version of the Motor Panels cab. Wheelbase is 12ft lin. to allow ample clearance for a variety of semi-trailers to give adequate verticalhinge clearance necessary for driving on and off ships. Drivers are very happy with the vehicle's performance and the sleeper cabs are comfortable.
The bed base lifts out to enable servicing of the engine but the supports for the floor are fixed and make access to the two rearmost cylinder heads very difficult. Small problems such as these continually arise in the early days but are soon dealt with by the engineers — lessons are learned quickly and new ideas soon incorporated into later vehicles. For example, the exhaust which is normally positioned under the front bumper has been moved to a vertical position behind the cab because when driving on the right the usual exhaust position is obnoxious to pedestrians and kicks up dust in hot climates.
Vibration seems to be much harsher on the Continent although surfaces like Belgian pave is by no means widespread. Guy has had trouble with mudflaps and ERF with air-tank brackets fracturing on the rougher roads but again their engineers have solved the problems now.
All in all, Britain's truck manufacturers have an enviable export record and they are seeing to it that things stay that way.